The zombie horde has arrived. (Provided by Electronic Arts and PopCap Games)

Zombies have invaded Crazy Dave’s garden. They’ve laid waste to the lawn, pillaged the patio and nearly uprooted all the plants. The only thing that can save the garden from utter destruction is the tactical cuke.

Building on the popular mobile, PC and console game, plants and zombies have taken their hilarious, never-ending struggle to a new genre: the shooter. Available now for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One and coming soon to the PC, Bejeweled creators PopCap Games deliver a respectable class-based, third-person, shooter that offers a fun time with a dollop of ridiculousness.

Each side has four classes to choose from, including a healer, a heavy, an auxiliary character and a mobile fighter. All the characters contribute to the team in different ways and all have an individual amount of hit points. PvZ allows players to switch their class on the fly as a match progresses.

PopCap does a wonderful job providing creative abilities for each class. Auxiliary characters like the Plants’ Cactus and the Zombies’ Engineer can deploy drones that allow players to temporarily control a small vehicle that devastates enemy opponents. The Scientist Zombie has the ability to warp ten feet forward. This can provide a speed advantage or serve to disorient opponents in a close firefight.

The gameplay is an intense multiplayer frenzy that is sure to whet the appetite of any shooter fan. There are three game modes: a survival mode, Team Vanquish and Garden and Graveyards.

Gardens and Graveyards is a territories-based game where zombies assault a series of bases that plants must defend. Zombies have about five minutes to infiltrate and capture a base by standing in a designated area. If they capture that base, they continue to the next one. The game goes on until the zombies have captured all the bases or the plants hold one base.

The result is a game that is fun, strategic and chaotic all at the same time. From beginning to end, the mode emphasizes teamwork and using resources. For example, zombie foot soldiers can use their rocket packs to get to higher vantage points. Then, they can throw stink bombs to disperse the plants in the area while the other zombies swarm in and capture the base. The game features some truly epic moments when the zombies drive the plants back to their last base. In one level, plants and zombies launch themselves from cannons to either attack or defend a giant sunflower that sits atop a lighthouse.

The game’s version of team deathmatch is particularly addictive because it adds an element of defense. Reviving teammates not only puts a player back into the game, it takes away from the other team’s kill count. This little detail makes a big difference in gameplay.

Players will find other tweaks sprinkled throughout the game that make PvZ stand out from its competitors and forebears. One of the game’s more pleasant surprises is the heavy for the plants, the Chomper. Unlike most heavy characters, the objective isn’t to wade into battle dealing — and more importantly, taking — a ton of damage. Instead, the chomper eats zombies by attacking one from behind or from underground using a burrowing ability. In essence, the game encourages the plants’ most durable fighter to sneak around the map. Chompers aren’t strictly limited to stealth but they’re better off if they utilize it.

The Chomper launches it’s next unlucky victim into the air. Photo courtesy of Electronic Arts and PopCap Games.

Another plus is how balanced the gameplay is, especially for a class-based title. Through multiple hours of play, no overpowered class combination popped up.

Players earn special coins that can be used to purchase sticker packs as they participate in and win matches. These packs unlock consumables used for AI-controlled plant and zombie mooks. The packs also unlock outfits, upgrades and new characters — although these characters are little more than elemental counterparts to the eight classes.

PvZ is fun above all else but it’s difficult to ignore the rough edges. The game has some long load times, and it’s made even worse when you join a match literally two kills from the end, resulting in a longer wait. While players aren’t exactly walking into walls, lag does rear its ugly head in this 24-person shooter. The occasional “jump” from one spot to the next is manageable, but a three-second delay in button-response? Not so much.

At times, the game becomes so cluttered that it’s difficult to tell friends and enemies apart, especially, when for some reason, the game displays some teammates’ gamertags in red (the universal gaming sign for “shoot this character”).

Also, with all the creativity packed in this game, it’s a little disappointing to see so few modes. It would have been fun to see the various strategies for games like capture the flag, given the wealth of concepts PvZ brings to the table. Thankfully, PopCap is releasing more modes through DLC.

Though the bullets have been replaced with peas and cacti needles, and the game sports an overall cartoonish look, PvZ is a good time that shouldn’t be missed.